Mysterious Commonplace, The: A Life In Science

The Mysterious Commonplace is a narrative memoir which begins in grade school, when my interest in science was influenced by the chance reading of an unusual book, an uncle who asked provocative questions about common occurrences, and the painful experience of watching my neighborhood change from dense woods to cement.

Acclaimed biomedical scientist Charles DeLisi tells the story of the rewards and frustrations of a life in science. The memoir spans half a century beginning in grade school when we find a somewhat shy boy deeply affected by the profoundly saddening sight of trees and woods in his beloved Bronx neighborhood being displaced by tons of steel and concrete. The reader is taken inside the mind of a complex non-conformist as he struggles with personal tragedy and ambivalence and moves from physics to history back to physics, and eventually into a career as a biomedical scientist. Among the most important parts of the memoir are his personal recollections of the years as director of the Department of Energy''s Health and Environmental Research Programs when he fought the mighty battles that would move two Federal Agencies and place the Human Genome Project, including a unique ethical component, on the National Agenda. We watch an uncannily successful strategist and leader; who sees himself as an ordinary person, distinguished only by an intense passion for science, as he and his colleagues successfully engage Congressmen, his superiors at the DOE, and scientists of different backgrounds. The story closes where it began, with environmental change dominating the emotional landscape, as he and his colleagues struggle to fight the battle against a changing climate.